Here, the essential things a man should know about Jacinda Barrett so that he can hold his own during upcoming Jacinda Barrett-based cocktail conversations.

*The Australia native is the only human being on planet earth to leap from cheesy-reality-show cast member to legitimate actress. (She was on The Real World London, on which she impressed viewers with her predawn streak through England's streets.)

*Speaking of nudity, her father is not opposed to her disrobing onscreen. Far from it. The man actually convinced Barrett to do a striptease in The Human Stain — the new Anthony Hopkins movie, based on the Philip Roth novel, in which she plays a '40s dame. He told her: "A young woman's body is a thing of beauty and there's nothing wrong with it. That's the end of the discussion."

*Speaking of Barrett's dad, he's an airport firefighter, the first on the scene after a plane crash. This, strangely enough, inspired Barrett to get a pilot's license.